


The Christmas Bean

by HollyeLeigh



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Arguing, Canon Compliant, Captain Cobra - Freeform, F/M, Holidays, Portals, Post-Season/Series 06, happy wife happy life, magic beans, mention of anton/tiny, mention of elsa, mention of liam the younger, mention of nemo, mention of regina mills - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:35:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21939808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HollyeLeigh/pseuds/HollyeLeigh
Summary: Canon compliant, post S6. Travel between realms has never been easy. Unless you happen to have an item that can open portals. When Emma and Killian are gifted with magic beans, they can’t quite agree on how best to use them during the holiday season.
Relationships: Captain Hook | Killian Jones/Emma Swan
Comments: 8
Kudos: 37





	The Christmas Bean

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Clockadile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clockadile/gifts).



> Merry Christmas @clockadile! 'Tis I, your CS Secret Santa! It was such a pleasure chatting with you these past few weeks. My gift to you is this one shot inspired by some of our conversations. It is set post S6, the first Christmas after Henry leaves to go find his own story. I hope you enjoy it!!
> 
> Much thanks to mods of the @cssecretsanta2019 and all my love to @kmomof4 and @winterbaby89 for giving this a once over for me / buy me a coffee

It really shouldn't have been so much of a surprise. Most of the town knew Anton (or Tiny, as he was affectionately known) had been cultivating a crop of magic beans. He’d already gifted one to Henry Mills in honor of his graduation, and the young man had used it several weeks later to go find his own story. Still. When the former giant had announced he’d be gifting beans to those closest to him, as well as several randomly selected townsfolk, so they could use them to visit loved ones in different realms over the holidays, the denizens of Storybrooke had been momentarily stunned with utter gratitude.

Tiny distributed the beans at Thanksgiving, along with instructions for their use since he’d made some modifications to this particular variety of legume. Each bean would open a portal to the user’s desired location, and the same portal would reopen twenty-four hours later, thus ensuring a way back.

Regina had wasted no time in announcing her intentions of using her bean to check in on Henry, and invited Emma and Killian to join her. The three of them were heartened to find their young man faring so well, even if they were astonished at how much he’d aged in those few short months after spending time in a realm where time passed differently than their own. They spent a glorious day hearing all about Henry’s adventures and even met a friend, Nick, he’d met during his journey. When the time came for them to return to Storybrooke, Emma had tried to give Henry her bean so he could come home whenever he was ready, but her son had flat out refused.

“No, mom,” Henry protested. “Use your bean to go see Elsa. I know how much you’ve missed her.”

Indeed, it had been Emma’s plan to take a trip to Arendelle after Regina had offered to take them all to see Henry, just as Killian had planned to use his bean to drop in on Nemo and his little brother, Liam. Killian took the lad’s side and encouraged his Swan to hold onto her bean so she could visit her friend at Christmas. Ever the sly pirate, though, he slipped his own bean into Henry’s pocket when he gave the boy - who was very much his own man, and one Killian could not be more proud of - a final hug of farewell.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, Emma kept insisting Killian get the _Jolly Roger_ ready to set sail so they could use his bean to see Nemo and Liam, unaware that he was no longer in possession of it. He waved off her suggestions, ensuring her there’d be time enough once they returned from Arendelle, not wanting her to know the truth of the matter, lest she forego the use of her own bean in an attempt to bid him to go see his family instead.

He should have known she’d suss out the truth, though.

“Killian,” she began one morning several days before Christmas.

“Hmm?”

“I’m going to ask you something, and I want you to remember that I’ll know if you lie to me when you answer.”

“I wouldn’t lie to you, Swan. You know that,” Killian replied.

Emma cocked a brow at him and folded her arms over her chest.

Guiltily rubbing at the patch of skin behind his ear that always seemed to flare when she looked at him like that, Killian added, “I might side-step the question from time to time, or give an answer that doesn’t include the _entire_ truth, but never with any nefarious intent. Do you really expect me to tell you what gifts await you beneath the tree? That would take all the fun out of it.”

“I’m not going to ask you what you got me for Christmas.” Emma rolled her eyes at her pirate’s attempt to skirt the issue and resolved to not let his charm override the seriousness of her question. “I want to know if you still have your bean.”

Killian furrowed his brows and gave his wife a perplexed look. “Why would you ask that, love?”

“Because you _side-step_ the conversation every time I bring up going to see Liam and Nemo. And it would be _just_ like you to give your bean away to someone you thought more worthy of getting to see their loved ones over the holidays.”

Killian sighed. His Swan knew him too well.

“I gave it to Henry,” he confessed. “Dropped it into his pocket without his knowledge before we left.”

The two stood staring at one another for long moments. Emma’s expression betrayed the war her mind was waging with itself, wanting to be angry with him for giving his bean away when he’d insisted she keep hers, but not able to fault him for gifting it to Henry, knowing how much they both missed him. Killian held his breath, waiting for her reaction.

It wasn’t one he’d expected.

Plucking her phone from her back pocket, Emma began to forcefully tap the buttons before putting the device to her ear. It took Killian several moments to comprehend what she was doing when she started conversing with the person on the other end of the line.

“Mr. Smee, it’s Emma. I need you to ready the _Jolly Roger_ for the Captain and me.”

“Belay that order, Mr. Smee!” Killian hollered as he took hurried steps towards Emma.

“Don’t listen to him, Smee,” Emma countered while attempting to stay out of her husband’s grasp. “Call me back when she’s ready to set sail.”

Emma ended the call just as Killian caught her. “Swan, what are you doing?”

“Taking you to see your brother and Nemo.” She jut out her chin towards him, her silent act of defiance and stubborn resolve.

Killian let go another sigh and wrapped his arms around her. “You don’t have to do that, love. I know how you’ve longed to see Elsa. I won’t take that opportunity from you.”

“Yeah, I have missed her. But Liam is your family. Your only family. You should go see him. There will be other beans.”

“Exactly,” he argued. “In another few years, when Anton is able to harvest the beans again, I’ll go see Liam and Nemo. You should use your bean to go to Arendelle.”

Emma opened her mouth to protest, but Killian cut her off with a press of his lips.

“No arguments, Swan,” he murmured at the end of their kiss. “You’re using that bean to go see Elsa.”

“Fine. I’ll use the bean to go see Elsa,” Emma huffed against his lips before flicking her eyes open to look up at him from beneath her lashes. A smile started to lift at the corners of Killian’s mouth at his wife’s acquiescence, but was stalled by her next words. “As soon as you have another bean to go see Liam with.”

Patting him on the chest, Emma brushed past Killian as he muttered, “Bloody stubborn woman.”

And stubborn she was. For the next few days they were at a stalemate regarding the Christmas bean, each of them roping in their friends and family to try and talk sense into the other. It was all for naught, though. Killian was every bit as resolute as his wife, and refused to budge on the issue.

“Ugh! Why are you being such a pigheaded pirate about this?” Emma exclaimed while they were getting ready to go to Granny’s for her annual holiday party.

“That is _your_ bean, Swan,” Killian reminded her for the upteenth time. “For you to go see _your_ friend.”

“But Liam is your brother!”

“And Elsa is like a sister to you, and one of the only people in all the realms you can claim for your own.”

Emma blanched. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Killian sank down onto the bed and beckoned his wife to join him. Once settled he imparted, “I know you have friends here, love. But none of them are… just yours.” He scrubbed his hand down his face, knowing he wasn’t making himself clear and desperate for her to see the issue as he did. “You told me when you first came here, how special a friendship you had with your mother before the curse broke. Even though you two are still close, I know it isn’t the same as it was. You miss that special bond of friendship you had with Mary Margaret and I suspect the only other time you’ve ever felt it was with Elsa.”

“I have friends here, Killian,” she assured him.

“Aye, love. But none that are _just yours_. You and Regina had no other choice than to become friends, for Henry’s sake. Most of the other ladies in town were your mother’s friends first back in the Enchanted Forest. And though you and Belle get on well, you consider her more my friend than yours. Elsa is _your_ friend. Just yours.”

“But--”

“No buts, Swan,” Killian persisted. “You put everyone before yourself far too often. This time, you’re going to put yourself first.”

Emma’s shoulders dropped in surrender and she leaned forward to rest her forehead to his. “You’re absolutely sure?”

“Completely, love.”

The next morning, two days before Christmas, Emma relented and used her bean to make the long awaited trip to Arendelle. Killian usually despised being separated from his Swan, especially by realms, but had insisted she go without him in order to make the most of her and Elsa’s time together. He knew it had been the right decision when she returned with a big smile on her face, a rosy hue on her cheeks, and one tight hug with a lingering kiss.

“Miss me?” Killian cheeked with his arms still securely embracing his wife.

Emma gave him a coy smile and shrugged. “Maybe a little.”

Lacing their fingers together, they went inside the house where Emma told Killian all about her visit.

Later that evening, while enjoying some hot cocoa and snuggled up by the fire together, Emma sighed. “I wish travel between realms was easier. I hate knowing it’ll be _years_ before we have another bean crop.”

“Aye, love, me too,” Killian lamented with her. “Wouldn’t it be grand to simply set sail on the _Roger_ and bring our season’s greetings to all our loved ones in person each year?”

“Visit them on their birthdays.”

“Celebrate milestones with them.”

“Drop by your parent’s house unannounced, hoping to spend Christmas with them even though you don’t have any gifts to give them,” a voice added, snapping both Emma and Killian’s attention to their open front door.

“Henry?!”

“What are you doing here?!”

“I wanted to spend Christmas with you guys,” he told them while embracing each in a warm hug. “I used the bean Hook gave me - very sneaky of you, by the way - to get here.”

Emma embraced her son once more, fighting back tears and swallowing past the emotional lump in her throat. “I’m so happy you’re here.”

“Even if it is sans gift,” Henry joked.

“You’re the only gift we need, my boy,” Killian assured him.

Christmas Day, everyone was thrilled to see Henry when he, Emma, and Killian arrived at the Charming’s farm for the day’s festivities. They all ate their fill, played games, exchanged gifts, sang songs, and ate some more. When the time came for the Swan-Jones family to return home so Henry could catch his portal, Emma put on a full court press to convince her son to stay.

“Mom, I can’t. I have to finish this journey I started.”

“I know,” Emma relented. “I just wish I knew when we’ll see each other again.”

“Yeah, um… about that.” A smile teased Henry’s lips as he pulled an envelope out of his back pocket.

“What’s this?” Emma asked, taking the proffered envelope from her son.

“Your Christmas gift. Well… not just yours,” he hedged. “Go on. Open it, you’ll see what I mean.”

With Killian at her side, Emma lifted the tucked flap and pulled out a heavy piece of parchment. Written in Henry’s familiar script, it read:

_From this day forth, travel between realms will no longer require the use of an object to open a portal. A portal will open in each land, at a designated time and place for its citizens’ to use at will. Objects, such as beans, will only be required should a person not wish to wait for the scheduled portal_

Their eyes snapped up, both of their mouths hanging open, causing Henry to chuckle.

“Seriously? You can do that?”

“I’m the Author. Of course I can. Which reminds me…” Henry took the parchment back from his mother and pulled out his Author’s pen. “It’s not official until I finish the sentence.” With a quick stroke, he added the period to the end of the line and a sweeping energy seemed to vibrate through the air from where the page glowed with magic. A moment later, Henry’s portal opened. “I assume I can leave it to the two of you to spread the word about my gift to the realms?”

“Aye, son. Leave it with us,” Killian told him before pulling him in for one final hug.

“Yup,” Emma agreed, not letting Henry leave without one last embrace from her as well. “And I know just who to start with.” She gave her husband a pointed look which prompted him to pull out his phone.

“I’ll have Smee ready the _Jolly Roger_.”

The End


End file.
